Drip-pan alarm



Mar. 27, 1923.

G'. E. ALTMANN i DRIP PAN ALARM Patented Mar. 27, 1923.

Umrac surte' GEORGE E. LTMANN, oF..wAsrrINGmoNynis'rRrc'rion coLUMnirA.

mur-ran Amin/1f appnatibn med september 11, 1922;v seriain: 5873681' To all whom it may concern 1 Be it known that l, GEORGE- E. ALTMASYN., a. citizen of the United States, residing at lVashington, inthe District of Columbia,-

and has for its object to provide a device of this character which may be easily andA quickly attached to the side flange of a drip pan under an ice box, and lcontrolled by a float disposed within the pan. The floatcontrolling a spring motor which actuates a bell ringing device when released by the pulley.

A further object is to provide the float with a chamber having its lower end open, and in which chamber the air is compressed asthe water level in the pan rises, thereby increasing the buoyancy of the float and assuring the release of the spring motor.

A further object is to dispose the spring motor within a casing, one end of which is detachably connected to the pan and the casing forming a sounding device against which the bell flapper engages during its oscillation under the influence of the spring motor.

With the above and other objects in view the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter set forth, shown in the drawing, described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention may be made within the scope of what isclaimed without departing from thespirit of the invention.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a top plan View of the device, the casing being broken away to betterv show the structure, and showing the same supported on a flange of a portion of a drip pan.

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view through the alarm device and a portion of the pan, taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1. Y

Referring to the drawing, the numeral 1 designates a portion, of a conventional form of drip pan adapted to be disposed below the discharge end of the drain pipe of an ice box, into which water from the ice compartment of theic'e boX-fdrains;y It hasI been 'I found that unlessfconsiderable attention is paid to the drip'pan, the same .willI overflowv and"I consequentlyrinvolvea considerable amount of workv on the vpartgof the house keeper. To obviate this diflioulty,'an 'alarm device 2"is'1: `rovided The lalarm ldevice comprises a rectangular shaped casing, which casing is detachably secured toa` horizontally disposedfbott'om't by meansof lposts 5. Extending downwardly from thebottoym 2 is a Ushaped bracket 6, betweenthe arms 7 of which V.the upwardly extending flange Sof the driplpan 1 is received andheld by the'set screw 9. Armsv 7- arel spaced from each other `a substantialdistance, thereby 'al-f lowing'the head1() of theflange E-tot be re-- ceived bytheb'racket 6' andto allowV the r'e-A ception of different widths ofbeads, therebyf allowing the device to be applied to various typesof receptacles. The bracket 6 is located adjacent one end of the bottomllfof the casing, and thelother end ext-ends inwardly over the water 11 within the pan 1. Slidably mountedl inabearing` sleeve 12 of the device is a vertically disposed shaft 13,y

the lower end of which extends through an aperture 14'in the upper side of a float 15 and is held thereon by means of nuts 16 and is air tight byfmeans of the washers 17 kThe washers 17 prevent .passage vof air to the chamber18 or from the chamberv 18. The lower end of the float 15 is open thereby allowing air to be cupped in the 'float 15 and consequently increasing-the buoyancy of the float and insuring the tripping of the tripping mechanism hereinafter set forth. TheV upper. end of-the shaft 13 isvdisposed be'- neath and adjacent the free end 19 of aleaf spring 20, whichleaf spring is anchored at 21 to the spring motor plate22 and is pro-` Y vided 'with a shoulder 23, which vengages over the inwardly extending arm 24 carried on the pivot post 25 and holds the pivot post against oscillation, thereby holding the Happer arm 26 against movement, which flapper arm carries a flapper 27, when oscillated cooperates with the casing 3 for sounding the alarm, that is', the water level within the pan 1 has reached a predetermined point and' the pan should be emptied. v The oscillation of the striker arm 26 is controlled vfrom a spring motor 28, which rotates the shaft 29 said shaft being lprovided with a gear 30, which gear meshes with a gear ca e 31, carried by a rotatable shaft 32.

hen the shaft 32 is rotated a rockable movement is imparted to the shaft 25 by means of a gear 33, with which gear 33 the escapement dog 34, carried by the shaft 25 cooperates. It will be seen that as the'dog34 is oscillated by the gear 33 the strike arm 26 will also 0scillate and consequently the alarm will be sounded. When it is desired to render the device inoperative the upwardly extending arm '35, which has its armA 36 pivotally mounted at 37 to the bottom 4, is moved to al position' where it will engage the striker -f arm 26 and hold the saine against movement,

From the above it willbe seen that a drip pan alarm is provided which is simple in construction, positive in its operation and one which may be easily and quickly at- V:tached to conventional forms of drip pans.

The invention having been set forth what claimed as new and useful is l. The combination with a drip pan, of a level alarm carried thereby, said alarm conijpi'ising a horizontally disposed casing, a

clamping device adjacent one end of the casing and forming means whereby-the device may be attached to the side of the pan, said casing extending inwardly over the pan, a vertically movable float controlled tor for holding the striker against operation,

the free end of saidshouldered spring being disposed over the upper end of the vertically movable shaft.

2. The combination with a drip pan alarm comprising a spring motor, a horizontally movable and pivotal striker arm, said strile' er arm being carried by a vertically disn posed shaft controlled vby the motor, an arm carried by the vertically disposed sliaitt and horizontally disposed, a. shoulder leai' spring overlying the last named aim, of means 'for actuating the shouldered leaf spring for re-y leasing the striker armshaft, said means comprising a vertically movable and looselyguidable shaft, the upper end of the shaft being' disposed beneath the iree end of the leaf spring and a ioat carried by the vertically movable sliaft. i

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification. Y`

GEORGE E. ALTMANN. 

